One Truth and a Lie
by LeftBrainSoldier
Summary: Vanille finally tells Fang the truth about their past focus and her memory.


I'll say this now, **Spoiler alert**, if you haven't beaten Chapter 11 at least.

I'm not a writer, at all, but this was something I was hoping would be a one shot by now, so I decided to go ahead and try to write it out myself. I'm a very left brained person, so the creative juices that is the right brain doesn't flow too well. Hope this is mostly acceptable, I wasn't even going to post it, but I figure why not, maybe someone else is curious.

Anyways, the reasoning behind this is… I got frustrated that the Datalog in Ch 11 [Under people] just goes off to say Vanille became Ragnarok 500 years ago and she didn't actually say it from what I could tell anywhere in the game before hand when I was replaying it. They never had the talk that they said they'd have in Ch 9 when Fang and Vanille are reunited…so I'm going to make believe they did. And that's where this comes from, Vanille tells Fang that she became Ragnarok, and almost destroyed Cocoon. Fang and Vanille also have that conversation about how, oh it** was** me[Fang] but Vanille never said it wasn't[except in the Datalog].…just confused me my first play through.

Oh yea, and I suck at grammar and punctuation, but I'm a bit picky about it too…so I tried.

I don't own Final Fantasy, don't care to. Too much work.

Here's to hoping the characters stays true to themselves.

--

Two figures sat silently at the makeshift campsite claimed by the l'Cie. The rest of the group had gone off to run errands while Fang and Vanille waited. Hope had gone off to collect food and supplies. Vanille had objected that he shouldn't go alone but he insisted, "besides I'll have the chocobo with me." He pointed out the yellow ball that danced on his shoulder. It was left at the camp by Sazh, who had decided it would be safer for it there.

Sazh, along with Lightning and Snow, had left earlier that morning. They went searching. They were searching to find any clue that would spare them from the fate that was placed in front of them. Their previous days of searching have turned up fruitless and they're beginning to lose hope that they'd ever find anything. Gran Pulse is hell after all; the land is unfit for human inhabitants. All clues point to zero signs of human life. Vanille and Fang had gone with them at first; but Vanille, after seeing the first signs of fallen civilizations, had lost her resolve. She tried not to show it of course, she told the others that she just decided that it be better for her to stay and guard the camp. Fang wasn't fooled by Vanille's act, and she decided it best to stay with her.

So they sat, silently, at the base camp in Vallis Media. Vanille was tense, fidgeting and nervous. Fang watched her from where she was, arms crossed and eyebrow raised at her companion. Vanille didn't seem to notice, however. First she started drawing in the dirt: circles, squares, even pictures of the animals around them. After she grew bored, she then started to play with the grass. She would pull the strands of grass from the soil and tear it and twist it in her hands, then pull another, and another. After she grew even more restless she stood up and started to pace back and forth, and back and forth. Fang grew impatient.

"Alright what is it, Missy. What's got you so eaten up?" Fang was annoyed at the whole display.

Vanille was taken by surprise; she stopped her pacing and looked at Fang. She didn't know what to say.

Fang continued, "You've been quiet, you've been on edge, and I just want to know what's wrong. So you're going to tell me, and tell me now."

Vanille still wasn't so sure, and her shaky voice gave that away, "Fang…" she started but was cut off again.

"Is it about what you wanted to tell me before?" Vanille nodded. Fang stood up to place a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "Well you can tell me now, a'right?" Fang's voice was calm and it helped ease Vanille's nerves, but the apprehension never completely left. Fang noticed Vanille's hesitation, "C'mon Vanille."

"I lied from the beginning, ok! I remember everything from our focus! Everything that happened!" Vanille's short outburst was followed by salt water welling up in her eyes. The tears blocked her vision. When she looked back up at Fang, the messy black hair was all she could distinguish. Fang placed her other hand on Vanille's other shoulder. Vanille wasn't sure if Fang was just trying to steady herself, or if she was trying to comfort the crying girl. "I just didn't want to go through with it again! I didn't want to hurt anymore people. But my running away hurt more people like Sereh and Dahj and Hope and Light…" She stopped to inhale quietly then continued, "Our Focus was to destroy Cocoon; the same as it is now, Fang." The tears started to roll down her cheeks freely now, and Vanille took a step back away from Fang. Fang was looking up at the sphere in the sky, the hornet's nest, or so she used to like to call it, one of many names. She didn't speak right away, absorbing what she had just been told.

"You mean **we** did that?" Fang said after her long pause. She was referring to the green scar on the surface of Cocoon's outer shell. Vanille nodded again in response. "How?" Fang knew the answer to this of course, but it didn't stop her from asking the question.

"Ragnarok," Vanille's answer was simple.

"You meanin' to tell me that **we** became Ragnarok all those years ago?" Vanille shook her head but she hesitated. She wiped at the tears on her face, trying to erase them, trying to be brave. She didn't know what to say or how to answer. She wondered if she should tell another lie, or the truth.

"So only one of us, hm." Fang placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head, "It must have been me, wasn't it?"

"No!" Vanille interjected "No, no it wasn't you." Vanille thought she saw regret outline Fang's features "That's why I lied! I didn't want to do it again!" Vanille bit her lip, not sure if she made the right decision. Vanille wasn't even sure if her friend would believe her, "I just don't want to hurt anymore people."

"You should have told me! I would have understand." Fang bit back. She dropped a hand to her side sharply, from their crossed position. Her other hand reached up to rub the back of her neck. Fang couldn't believe her ears. Vanille **lied** to her? She **wanted** to become a Cie'th? She became Ragnarok on her **own**? _Ugh why can't I remember?! _

"No you wouldn't have! You wouldn't have understood. It's not fair to hurt all those –"

Fang interrupted her, "Stop." Fang took Vanille's hand and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "I'm going to protect you. I don't want to see you a Cie'th.

"But...Fang…" The girl cried into her shoulder.

"No no, don't you worry your pretty little head about it. It doesn't matter anymore."

With that statement Vanille resigned, Fang cared more about her than anything else, _isn't that supposed to be a good thing? _

_"_I'll do anything to see that you don't suffer anymore. I promise. You won't have to hurt anymore people, but you won't become a Cie'th either. Never again, just don't worry about it." Fang patted her friend on the back.

_That's what I'm afraid of, _Vanille thought to herself. She stepped back from Fang's embrace and nodded with a smile. "Ok." She was tired, and she knew nothing she could say would make Fang change her outlook. Even if it meant the decimation of the entire population of Cocoon, Fang would do it all for her.

Fang returned a nod to Vanille, she was determined to protect the closest thing she had to a family. Nothing would get in her way, not even Cocoon.

The two l'Cie sat silently at the camp site. Vanille lay asleep, and Fang watched over her._ I'll protect her, even if I have to do it alone._

Fin


End file.
